STS-69 Day 6 Highlights

The manufacture of thin film compounds for improved semiconductor and
electrical component use proceeded on schedule overnight aboard the
free-flying Wake Shield Facility as Endeavour's astronauts
monitored the process from their orbiting spaceship.

However, about 7 a.m. CDT the 4300-pound, saucer-shaped satellite
put itself in a safe mode after three successful growths of thin
films. Scientists plan to complete seven growths before the
satellite's scheduled retrieval Wednesday morning. Just before the
fourth growth began, the Wake Shield pitched forward slightly after
sensing a temperature increase. Wake Shield's systems were shut
down and science activities temporarily halted to allow temperatures
on the satellite to cool. Payload controllers are assessing the
situation and its impact on the satellite's continued operations.

The Wake Shield is trailing Endeavour by about 40 miles, just where
officials hoped it would be to avoid any possible contamination from
the Shuttle's jet thrusters. Wake Shield must maintain as clean an
environment as possible as it orbits the Earth to enhance the quality
of the thin film compounds.

Commander Dave Walker and Pilot Ken Cockrell fired Endeavour's
reaction control system jets to stop the opening rate between the
Shuttle and the Wake Shield in preparation for tomorrow's rendezvous
and retrieval of the satellite. The Wake Shield is scheduled to be
grappled by robot arm operator Jim Newman 9/13/95 at about 10:15 AM
Central time.

Walker took a few minutes out of his schedule to discuss the
progress of the STS-69 mission with reporters from television stations
in Atlanta and Boston. Later this morning, Walker planned to conduct a
ship-to-ship conversation with STS-73 Commander Ken Bowersox, who
along with his six crewmates, climbed aboard Columbia on Launch Pad
39-B at the Kennedy Space Center.for the final hours of a dress
rehearsal of the countdown which will lead to their launch in just
over two weeks on a 16-day Spacelab microgravity research mission.

The manufacture of semiconductor thin film compounds aboard the Wake
Shield Facility satellite, released from Endeavour on Monday, is
planned to resume later tonight following about a 12-hour rest to
allow the satellite's attitude control system to cool from previous
operations.

Due to the delay and subsequent plans to allow future such cooling
periods, shuttle managers this afternoon decided to extend the time
Wake Shield will spend flying free of Endeavour by about 24 hours. The
extra time will mean the satellite will not be retrieved until
Thursday. Previously, it would have been recaptured on Wednesday. The
additional 24 hours of free-flying time will be gained by scheduling
the crew activities that had been planned to occur the day after Wake
Shield was retrieved to now take place during the extra day the
satellite spends away from the shuttle. The overall duration for
Endeavour's mission has not been changed and landing remains
scheduled for September 18.

Controllers for the Wake Shield Facility believe the extra
operations time will allow them to complete almost all of the thin
film growths that had been originally planned. The satellite may be
taken out of the "safe" mode that it has been in for cooling
purposes and resume operations as early as 10 p.m. CDT today. Prior to
the heating problems experienced with the attitude control system,
three of the planned total of seven film manufacturing runs had
already been completed. For the remainder of operations, cooling
periods that could last as long as eight to ten hours will take place
in between film manufacturing runs. Due to the slower-than-anticipated
thin film operations, some secondary experimental objectives of the
satellite, such as operations with the Charging Hazards and Wake
Studies and the Shuttle Plume Impingement Experiment, may be reduced
from what was originally planned. Operations with all of the secondary
experiments are still expected, however, although in a limited
fashion.

With the change in plans for Endeavour's retrieval of the
satellite, activities for the crew when they awaken will include some
off-duty time, operations with the secondary payloads aboard
Endeavour, and checkouts of the spacesuits that will be used by
astronauts Mike Gernhardt and Jim Voss during a spacewalk on Saturday.

The crew is currently in the midst of an eight-hour sleep period and
will awaken for day seven of the mission at 10:39 p.m. CDT today. The
Wake Shield Facility is trailing about 39 miles behind Endeavour and
closing in on the shuttle at less than one mile with each hour and a
half long orbit of Earth.